Unwhacked, at Long Last
Access restored in the Missouri Breaks.
As controversies surrounding land access continue to mount in Montana, conservationists and recreationalists alike can rest a little easier knowing American Prairie (AP) is fighting in their corner. Last September, AP (formerly known as APR, or the American Prairie Reserve) acquired three properties in Blaine County. Among these was the Anchor Ranch and a four-mile stretch of Bullwhacker Road that had been an access chokepoint to nearly 50,000 acres of public land north of the Missouri River. American Prairie has reopened Bullwhacker Road to the public, offering access to public land that’s been tied up for over a decade.
Starting in 2006, the Anchor Ranch and its owners’ control of Bullwhacker Road have been the topic of several legal disputes. Initially, the Public Land & Water Access Association (PLWA) argued that Bullwhacker was a public road, as it had been established before the land was privatized in the 1920s. While the Blaine County attorney initially agreed with PLWA and mandated that public travel be permitted on Bullwhacker Road, the owners of the Anchor Ranch successfully sued the county in 2011, privatizing the 3.8-mile section of road that runs through the property. However, a public-access agreement between the ranch owners and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) allowed members of the public limited use of the road.
Then, in 2012, the ranch was sold to Dan and Farris Wilks, Texas billionaire brothers who made their fortunes in the petroleum industry. The brothers attempted to leverage the ranch as a bargaining chip to secure Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land in the Durfee Hills in Fergus County in 2014. The BLM parcel abuts the brother’s 62,000 acre N Bar Ranch, which the Wilks purchased for $45 million in 2011. Six years after the BLM called off the deal (after intense opposition from public elk hunters), the Wilks brothers listed Anchor Ranch for sale. The pricetag was $36 million, a 57% increase over their purchase price in 2012.
During this time, FWP and BLM worked to negotiate deals with independent organizations in an attempt to reopen some of the land cut off by the Wilks Brothers’ closure of Bullwhacker Road. The Anchor Ranch sat on the market until September 2025, when American Prairie purchased it, immediately re-opening Bullwhacker Road and reinstating access to the full 50,000 acres of previously inaccessible public land.
In addition to the benefits this access will have for hunters, hikers, birdwatchers, and other recreationalists, the American Prairie acquisition of the Blaine County land supports the organization’s mission of preserving prairie ecosystems. The Upper Missouri region offers rich habitat that supports a diverse wildlife population, including bighorn sheep, mule deer, elk, whitetail deer, sage grouse, and antelope. American Prairie will continue to honor grazing leases on the land while opening it up to wildlife, facilitating movement between the ranch, the neighboring 375,000-acre Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument, and the 1.1-million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge.
American Prairie is developing a comprehensive public-access plan for the Anchor Ranch property before opening it to the public.
